Learning programmes start with the best intentions. A senior leader has called you in to help solve a strategically important issue – we’re losing our best people, our customer satisfaction is falling, our people are struggling to adapt or our managers aren’t leading through change. The business case is approved; the budget is signed off and an extensive procurement process secures the perfect partner. Executive leaders show interest, putting in the time to record launch videos and even turn up at the early events to demonstrate commitment, everything is set up for success…….
…..then things start to falter. The roll-out drifts, the delivery team does a great job but embedding the learning becomes a distraction to real work. Learning evaluation, well that’s just way too difficult.
Sound familiar?
The programme needs a focal point, something to get real leadership attention. In my experience, this is best achieved by bringing learning evaluation from being a back-end activity to something that starts in the early consultative phases and flows through the programme, start to finish. I would personally spend less time getting a CEO to record a video and instead use the time to persuade the CEO to receive a regular update on the programme.
We all know that great learning evaluation is needs a powerful collaboration between the business, the learning team and any external parties. Right at the start of the programme I recommend pulling together the evaluation team to agree – what will be measured, who owns the information, when will it be measured and, importantly, why it matters?
This team becomes responsible for creating the Programme Evaluation Report that is used at key points during the life of the programme. The important word here being ‘used’ since far too much evaluation data is collected but is never used to create insight, get attention or inform future decisions. Without an agreed approach to evaluation at outset then you are leaving the outcome of the programme to chance.
This article isn’t about which evaluation model is best, so what follows is an illustration of how to better use evaluation loosely based on Kirkpatrick.
Participation
This first section is about doing what you promised. It’s about recording the learners progress through the journey, from kick off to completion. This information is essential to identify early potential blocks to roll-out but also to create some healthy competition between teams to track towards the promised level of participation.
Perception
The second section is about quality: what is working, what isn’t? Which elements are valuable, relevant and applicable? I always encourage the ‘bonnet to be lifted’ on the early sessions to ensure a strong focus on improvement for those that will follow. It is also often forgotten that the information gather at this stage can be used to ‘market’ the programme to those yet to attend, or better still get the early participants to spread the word on your behalf. At this stage, it is also incredibly powerful to check what the learners intend to do next – are they committed to putting the learning into practice and if not, deal with the barriers there and then.
Performance
In this section, you track what people are doing differently. Is there more evidence of the behaviour and practices that are targeted by the programme? For example, it could be evidence that managers are coaching more, a reduction in call handling time or maybe improved sales closures. My experience is that this level of evaluation can only be completed in collaboration with the operational teams, the buy-in to the need being gained right at outset when the initial snap-shot of performance is taken. Crack this and you will have credibility with the business.
Impact
Ultimately you should finish where you started. The very issues that led to the programme being created should be revisited at key points during the programme roll-out to demonstrate the investment is delivering the promised business impact. The story of the learning programme finishes where it started, solving strategically important business issues. Who wouldn’t invest in a team who can make this kind of impact.